The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1887-02-04
TURNING BLACK.
RARE AND FATAL AFFLICTION
OF AN INDIANIAN.
His Skin Changing Gradually from
White to Black-Previous Sim
liar Cases-The Malady Known
as Addison's Disease. Etc.

In Rising Sun, Ind, on Sunday morn
ing, says q recent issue Of the Chicago
II ratd, death brought to a close case
which has attracted keen interest and
widespread attention, not only among
tn medical fraternity of that portion,
but also of Cincinnati. whittier the pa
tient went short time since for treat
ment, The name OF the man was Ste
phen E. Seward He died Of Addison's
disease.
The remarkable feature of Seward s
case was the gradual supervention of
the discoloration Of the skin, which. al
though originally OF fair complexion,
eventually gave him the appearance OF a
| perfect type of full hlooded African.
I The nature of this case was not compre-
hended until he visited the clinic of Drs
/ Ransohof and Whitaker at the Ohio
I Medical College in Cincinnati, when the
case was recognized as one of Advisors
( disease. or '.bronzed Skin" Seward
was g single man, and at the time of his
death twenty-cight years old. He came
Of very healthy stock, both of his parents
I being still alive, and his ancestors hav-
ing all re ched a round old age He
WAS employed up to six month ago as a
laborer on his fathers farm.
lie was man of fine physique and
great strength, and up to that line had
been able to perform an immense days
work About that time he began tc no
tice that couple of hours exertion in
the field was followed by an unaccount-
able sense of WEAKNESS Within two
months after the beginning Of his dis
ease this Inconvenience had increased to
such an extent as to unfit him for his
work. About this time there was a
gradual change in the color of his skin.
Before this discoloration be was a blonde,
of fair complexion, light hair and gray
ewes. In the beginning his face became
the color of ashes. He grew darker and
darker, until at length he became pro-
zounced black, large quantities of the
coloring matter being deposited on the
skin Of the face, neck, shoulders, hands
and forearms, and subsequently in all
parts of the integument. The mucous
membrane of the lips, tongue and OF the
mouth participated in this discoloration.
The physical appearance of the patient
did not 9th ,rwise indicate the gravity Of
development, and there was but little in
ani.ion. In the last four weeks a rapid
change for the worse set in. and death
resulted in little over SIX months after
the inception of the disease. This was
an unusually rapid course, for, as rule
patients who sulfer from this disease lin
ger for from two 10 five years, but al
ways with the grave as the inevitable.
Altogether not more than 200 cases of
this peculir disease could be collected
from medical literature. The disease Is
one of comparatively recent recognition,
as no well-marked case is recorded pre-
vious to 1925, when Loebsteiu, of Paris,
discovered the first known instance. The
name by which it is generally known
hddison's djsease-was given It after DR..
Addison, of London, who in 1859 colec-
ted eleven cases, only four of which,
however, strictly belong to this category.
1t was Dir. Addison who first recognized
the fact that the peculiar discolor-
ed condition of the skin is due
to diseased condition of the supra
renal capsules, minute bodie, situated
above the kidneys, the physiological
character OF which has not Vet been es-
tabllshed In Addison's disease these
bodies referre to arc invariably found to
b. the seat of Inflammation, of consump-
ton or of cancer. 1t is for this reason
that the disease invariably proves fatal.
'.Bronze skin may be said to be dis
ease of the laboring class. Those who
WELD the ak and toll with the shovel are
almost always its victims 1t is for this
reason that it attacks the male nearly
twice as often as the female. OF the 1873
cases recently collected by GreenhOw,
lI9 occurred in males and sixty-four in
females. Associated with the bronze
skim and 1.-the accompanying muscular
weakness are other symptoms, which
are more or less characteristic Of the dis
e Sc. and which hasten the end. Most
prominent among them are severe pains
in the abdomen, inveterate attacks Of
vomiting and diarrhea, great difficulty
in breathing, and finally commissions.
SO far as the treatment of the disease
is concerned there is none worthy of the
name Remedial agents have not yet
been discovered that can directly or in
directly affect tile diseased condition of
the suprarenal capsules, as the surgery
of the abdomen does not lay claim to
that domain. 1t is, however, amongst
the probabilities OF successful progress
that in the near future in these cases
which medicine cannot reach the knife
will be resorted to.
Addison's disease must not be con-
founded with melanosis, which also at
times discolors the skin, but in which
tumors, black as ink, of rapid growth,
ard often followed by liberation, cover
the body. In Addison's disease the skin
is perfectly smooth. The only resem-
blance between the two affections is the
discoloration. In both diseases those
parts which are exposed to the air and
light turn darker than the rest OF the
body Seward was so black when at the
clinic in Cincinnati that physician, not
apprised of the nature of the case, seeing
him, inquired: ''Who is that colored
mani"